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Pradhan holds hungry late-night 98/2 review

Vol 18, PW 22 (02 Jul 15) Exploration & Production

Dharmendra Pradhan is so determined to push forward development of ONGC's prospective KG-DWN-98/2 block he's willing to go hungry for it! Pradhan led a ministry team to Vizag on June 24 for a review meeting on the block.

"His flight reached around 9pm and he reached the hotel around 9:30pm," says a source. "At 10pm we began our presentation.

Pradhan reviewed our work till 1am and only then did he have his dinner!" Pradhan promised to grant approval for the $6bn Field Development Plan (FDP) for the 3800-sq km Northern Development Area (NDA) by October so long as ONGC's Board approves and forwards it to the ministry in good time. ONGC wants to drill 45 development wells including 10 for water injection and has issued tenders to hire five floaters with a target to begin development after the monsoon in 2016.

"Pradhan wants us to begin early production," adds an ONGC source. "He asked us intelligent questions related to production.

Earlier ministers showed no genuine interest." Pradhan came fully prepared and asked ONGC how it would make development cost effective by using the best technology. Accompanying Pradhan was oil secretary KD Tripathi, additional secretary AK Sawhney, joint secretary (exploration) UP Singh, joint secretary (refineries) S.

Pradhan also visited the 1.33m tonne Strategic Crude Oil storage facility in Visakhapatnam on June 25 built by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) and which is expected to commission this underground storage facility in the next few months. Later in the day, Pradhan visited Japanese vessel Chikyu, hired by the government for a gas hydrate exploration campaign off the Vizag coast. "International surveys have established India has huge gas hydrate reserves," says a ministry source. "This could lead to a gas revolution." Pradhan also visited GSPC's offshore facilities and met managing director Atanu Chakraborty and other senior GSPC officials to review progress at the company's nine assets.

Pradhan also visited the 1.33m tonne Strategic Crude Oil storage facility in Visakhapatnam on June 25 built by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) and which is expected to commission this underground storage facility in the next few months. Later in the day, Pradhan visited Japanese vessel Chikyu, hired by the government for a gas hydrate exploration campaign off the Vizag coast. "International surveys have established India has huge gas hydrate reserves," says a ministry source. "This could lead to a gas revolution." Pradhan also visited GSPC's offshore facilities and met managing director Atanu Chakraborty and other senior GSPC officials to review progress at the company's nine assets.